The United States of America swore in 47,819 Nigerians as naturalised citizens from 2019 to 2023, an updated U.S. Naturalisations Annual Flow Report by the Department of Homeland Security shows.

The report, updated in August 2025 and compiled by the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, draws its figures from Form N-400, the application every would-be American citizen submits.

The data is also drawn from the electronic case files used by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to track each application from fingerprinting to the oath ceremony.

According to data obtained by The PUNCH, 8,930 Nigerians were naturalised from October 2019 to September 2020, a year marked by COVID-19 shutdowns that paused oath ceremonies for 11 weeks, March 18, 2020, to June 4, 2020.

The following year, 10,921 Nigerians obtained citizenship as USCIS cleared its pandemic backlog.

In 2022, 14,438 Nigerians took the oath, an all-time high for the country and a 32 per cent jump from the previous year. That number, however, dropped to 13,530 in 2023.

The four years add up to 47,819 new Nigerian-American citizens, accounting for approximately 1.4 per cent of all 341,884 Africans who naturalised in that period.

When the OHSS grouped naturalisations by source countries, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo emerged in the top 30 list. 47,819 Nigerians were naturalised within that period, followed by the DRC, which almost doubled in 2022 to about 6,000. Other African source countries include Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.

African-born nationals accounted for 11 per cent of all U.S. naturalisations in both 2022 and 2023, the highest share on record; up from an average 9.6 per cent in 2010–2019. Africans who naturalised in 2023 had a median of six years in lawful permanent resident status before taking the oath, the shortest of any world region, alongside Asia.

Overall, naturalisations of Africans increased by 43 per cent between 2020 and 2023, the highest increase among all continents.

Across all regions, Mexico accounted for 437,697 naturalisations over the three years. India followed with 230,164 naturalisations, steadily rising from 48,111 in 2020, 57,043 in 2021, and 65,960 in 2022, respectively, but dropped to 59,050 in 2023.

180,073 Philippines became new Americans, Cuba (159,393), the Dominican Republic (116,523), Vietnam (113,487), the People’s Republic of China (113,126), Jamaica (77,335), El Salvador (73,489), and Colombia (65,486).

Together, the 10 countries of birth accounted for over half of all 3.3 million naturalisations completed during the three-year window.

The USCIS notes that application volumes and approvals do not always move in lockstep. Some petitions are denied, while others are decided in a later fiscal year.

The United States’ naturalisation of foreign nationals is based on its Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. USCIS—an agency within the Department of Homeland Security—screens applicants, runs FBI name checks and fingerprint searches, reviews five years (three if married to a U.S. citizen) of continuous residence, and tests English literacy and civics knowledge.

Department noted that, “To be considered for naturalisation, an applicant must meet statutory and regulatory requirements and file a Form N-400, Application for Naturalisation, with appropriate documentation.

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts an investigation and examination of all naturalisation applicants, which includes completion of security and criminal background checks, review of the applicant’s complete immigration record, interview(s) with oral and written testimony, testing for English and civics requirements, and qualifications for accommodations or disability exceptions.

“Following approval, USCIS schedules applicants for a required oath ceremony before a judge or authorised executive branch official.”

Naturalisation “confers U.S. citizenship upon applicants who have fulfilled the requirements established in the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the department explains.

Applicants must be 18 or older, hold LPR (also known as “green card”) status for at least five years (or three years if married to a U.S. citizen), demonstrate continuous residence for the same period, meet physical presence thresholds (typically 30 months out of five years, or 18 months on the three-year route), and show good moral character with attachment to the Constitution.

For decades, European immigrants dominated U.S. naturalisations. The 1965 amendments to the INA, which abolished the old national-origins quota, opened the door to Asia and, later, Africa.

The OHSS report notes that Asia overtook Europe in the 1970s; since 2020, Africans have posted the fastest growth rate, spending a median of six years in permanent-resident status before naturalising, one year quicker than the global average.

naturalisations fell to 878,460 in 2023, from 969,000 persons in 2022. In 2021, 814,000 persons became naturalised Americans; up 34 per cent from the 2010–2020 average of 721,000.. (PUNCH)